Chapter 40 Casey
Casey
“You did this to yourself, you stupid bitch. If you had just let us take the Khaos brat, it wouldn’t be so hard, but here we are, four months along, and, still, he hasn’t come for you. Some mate.”
I howl in agony when he lets the trap dig its serrated teeth deeper into my paw.
Jonas takes a drag of his cigarette and walks around me. I can’t go anywhere, but I still try to turn to keep him in view.
“Shift.”
The alpha bark rolls past my foggy and confused head like water off a duck's back. I feel nothing.
“Omega, shift to human.”
And die? No fucking thank you.
I will die as a wolf.
He’s standing right there in front of me, and I have no idea how he got there. Did I just pass out? Dangerous.
I can take him if I get free. Rip his face off and bathe in his blood. I look down at my mangled paw. I dive and bite into my own leg.
“What the fuck, Casey!” Jonas shouts and kicks me hard enough I hear ribs break.
I snarl and whip around, snapping my teeth and just missing his leg.
“Fuck, you really are feral now. I bet you don't even know your own name anymore.”
I turn back to my leg, but, this time, his boot hits my rump. I let out another warning growl. My fur rises, and I crouch low, ignoring the agony in my paw.
“Stop her!” Jonas thunders.
They pounce, pinning me to the ground. I get a bite of someone’s arm, taking a massive chunk of meat and swallowing it down.
In the back of my mind, I know I shouldn't be doing things like that, but I'm so hungry, and I can't remember what I need to be.
The blows rain down until I'm barely breathing, lying on the ground in my own blood, while my pack laughs.
Jonas picks me up by my back legs and throws me headfirst into the hole. I land heavily in the dark, ignoring the pain.
“You should have given them to us. You should have saved yourself.”
I should have…no. No, I did exactly what I needed to do. I regret nothing.
Golden light, and a smile in a window, a whispered vow. He’s coming. They promised.
I drag myself into the corner and collapse on the ground, wondering if I can survive until they get here.
“Wake up, Omega.”
I open my eyes and find I’m in my human form, but there’s no pain, not anywhere.
Angel is crouched next to me, and he reaches out and takes my hand.
“You’re not real.”
He blinks. “No, I’m not.”
“Go away. I don't want to see you.”
“Casey-”
“GO!” I thunder. “You make it too hard. You make me forget.” In my dreams, I collapse to my knees, weeping. “You make me hope, and the hope is what crushes me. So, just go away.”
When I look up, he’s gone.
I wake up at some point and see someone’s thrown down a bone of rotting meat. My stomach clenches. I’ve eaten the tainted food and paid for it. I learned my lesson, better to starve than eat what they offer.
Days pass. Someone comes into the dark thinking that I’m dead. I attack, ripping them apart. They throw bread and meat to get me off him. I abandon my kill for the food, viciously slinking around, growling and snarling.
“She’s fucked up. We should kill her.”
“She’s the mate-”
“She rejected them. Look at her! She’s an omega. She’s feral. Casey has no use to us anymore. Seriously, take a good look at her. What possible worth is she to the pack? She’s a fucking danger to all of us. It’s time.”
Kill me? I guess.
I eat the food and shake out my fur, following the tiny slit of light I can see. They walk off, and I realise something.
They made a mistake.
One huge, massive, crucial error.
They forgot to lock me in. I get up slowly, listening as new voices reach me.
There are people in the arena, standing on my blood-soaked ground. Voices my wolf recognises.
I dart closer, listening intently.
Liz, who gave me the bracelet. She’s the one who made Angel so scared he hugged me.
She hurt my wolves.
My anger and rage fix on her, ignoring all other targets. She won’t escape me.
Liz is standing in the light, laughing; she’s flirting with a wolf who isn’t her mate.
Angel. I remember his pain, such a mirror of mine. They took him from me.
I pad towards the light and gently, silently nose the door open. I watch her intently, stalking slowly forward.
Saliva drips in strands out of my mouth, and a low growl that can’t be heard by human ears vibrates in my chest.
I spring, my powerful jaws closing around the back of her neck. I drag her back, digging my back paws into the ground and yanking, quick, fast, strong movements, and we’re in my dark pit before anyone can say anything.
I turn on Liz, my teeth exposed.
She lets out a shriek that hurts my ears, but I ignore it.
She’s going to pay.
For every. Single. Moment.
I start by snapping off her fingers.
Then, I systematically destroy her.
They come in with electric prods. I watch them from where I’m curled up in the corner, growling wildly.
Her mate wails, he screams, he curses and rages, then he turns on me. In his rage, he wants to hurt me. I’ll kill him first. He clenches his fists, the glow of the wolf in his eyes.
Threats screaming into the air, smothered by my low growls.
We stare at each other.
He lowers his chin to his chest and averts his eyes, taking an unconscious step backwards. I snap my teeth, and he turns and runs.
Coward.
“You can't let her live after this,” someone says.
I don’t recognise him, but then I can’t look away from my father and Jonas.
“We can’t kill her yet; she’s too valuable,” Jonas murmurs. “We can still use her.”
Use me?
I dare them to try.
From the dark, I watch them drag her body out of my den.
The scent of my rage scorches the air; my body trembles.
A short time later, the doors open just enough, and someone throws down a freshly killed rabbit.
I stand up, walking over to nose it.
Clean.
I devour it and return to the dark, where I wait.
Except…I don’t remember what I’m waiting for.